Free book of activities for teaching English to young learners

by David | Books, Games

A few years ago, the British Council contacted 1,000 teachers around the world and asked them to submit their favourite activities for teaching English to primary students. The best of those activities were compiled into this free booklet of activities for teaching...

Book review of Teaching Young Learners English by Joan Kang Shin and JoAnn Crandall

by David | Books, Starter

At the moment I’m spending more of my time focusing on teaching Starters and the ‘younger’ of young learners. I’ve really been enjoying this book ‘Teaching Young Learners’ by Joan Kang Shin and JoAnn Crandall. In the young learner...

Using virtual reality in the young and very young learner classroom

by David | Tips, Tools, Video

    I recently discovered virtual reality / 360 degree view videos on YouTube. Similar to drone footage, I think these types of videos would make a wonderful way to introduce a new theme or topic. Simply search for your topic and virtual reality and/or 360...

Many classroom teaching strategies (like the ‘growth mindset’) aren’t as effective as we think they are

by David | Training

Yesterday, I was watching a video about how the ‘growth mindset’ isn’t working – yet – as growth mindset advocates would say. One trend I’ve noticed recently, is that a lot of ideas from the self-help movement have moved into our...

It’s not your fault!

by David | Kindergarten, Lessons

I recently started teaching a brand new Kindergarten 1 class. Its my first such (regular) class in around 18 months, and I have to say parts of it have been challenging. Children crying and being upset doesn’t really affect me anymore, that is to be expected...